


The Girl Five Blocks Away

by radrezi



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 01:52:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13583478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radrezi/pseuds/radrezi
Summary: A one-shot I did quick at 1:00AM on New Years' Eve, I'm not overly proud of it.





	The Girl Five Blocks Away

Terezi ran.  
Fast at first, whizzing around corners and down dark alleyways, then slowing down as her low stamina caught up with her. The streets were so unfamiliar in the dark. Of course, she couldn't see anything anyway, but dark blacks and blues mixed with the blur of tears don't make for a very accurate picture.  
Huffing, she turned left. Stumbling more than running now, her feet getting caught on everything.  
She took a pit stop at the entrance of her grocers. The dim streetlamp outside was a comfort to her, even though she had no need for it. If she remembered correctly there was a bench right outside where the old lady put out any various specimens of plants she had for sale. Somewhere. There.

Terezi sat on the creaky wooden seat and hoped the noise she made didn't wake up anyone on the otherwise silent street. Panting hard, trying to ease the basketball that kept bouncing around her ribcage. She was safe for the time being, she hoped. Safer once she reached her destination, but that wasn't her main priority just now. That was to keep breathing. Terezi took deep breaths, taking off her glasses and vigorously wiping away any stray tears still making their way south of her face.

"Goddammit." She muttered.

She replaced her glasses and felt her arm, her soft fingertips running over the wet cuts and bits of porcelain still lodged within a few fresh ones. Gently, Terezi wrapped her thumb and pointer around one of them and pulled it out, flinching slightly. A fresh bubble of teal oozed out to replace the splinter. Terezi tossed the ceramic into the gutter where she hoped no one would be too nosy to notice it. She repeated the action again. And again.

"God. Damn. It." She muttered angrily each time she extracted a piece of porcelain from her arm. "Goddammit goddammit godammit."

Tossing the last one in the gutter (or wherever it had decided to land), she stared skywards and sighed deeply. And no matter how hard she tried, the tears stubbornly fought their way out once more.

"Goddammit!" She yelled, hopefully not too loud.

Terezi yanked off her red spectacles and rubbed her uninjured arm repeatedly across her eyes. Useless for everything but crying.

When she managed to stop herself from this futile exercise, Terezi stood up, dusted the seat of her black pants off and started making her way down the street once more.

When she stepped out of the yellow light of the streetlamp she seemed to grow colder. Maybe it was a cold breeze sent to capture her and bring her back. Terezi tried to convince herself that it was just her mind tricking her. It did that sometimes.

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of the troll's lips as she rounded the corner and found herself in the well lit suburban street of her destination. Terezi slowed her pace and sniffed around more often to get a good idea of her immediate surroundings. Realising she had gone a bit too far, Terezi backtracked a few paces and turned into the driveway of a familiar lawnring. 

...

Vriska couldn't sleep. The bright streetlamp shone right through the big window in the front of her room, was why. That was her excuse. She'd tell Aranea that tomorrow and then she'd move her bed around and ask for blinds to be put in. If you made enough fuss about anything no one would believe it was a lie.  
The truth was... Vriska didn't know. She wasn't the slightest bit sleepy in the least. An all-nighter was in order, then. Vriska never liked those. She'd worry all night about being sleepy in the day and worry all day about being sleepy before night. But oh well. Perhaps this time would be different. An all-nighter and a miracle please, and put it on her tab.

Vriska slowly got out of bed, picking her glasses off the bedside table as she stood. The socks she had forgotten to take off before bed kept her from making too much noise while walking. She lifted her chair out from under her desk and gently placed it on the ground with one chair leg on her foot to minimise sound.  
Vriska eased herself into her seat and gently placed her feet, one stacked on the other; on top of the wooden surface and unplugged her phone from the charger. Glancing out at the bright light coming off the silent road she nearly had a heart attack when she saw a small, lean figure stumbling its way down her driveway.

Vriska got up on her desk as quickly and quietly as she could and stared out through the window with her one good eye. The red glare off the side of the figure registered in her mind as resembling Terezi's glasses, but what could she be doing here at this ungodly hour? Vriska pressed the home button on her phone and the screen lit up. 1:28am. That was not Terezi down there.

Vriska thought about waking up her sister, but decided to go check out this stranger herself. Arming herself with the nearest items in reach - a handful of dice, for god's sake; she opened the door as quietly as she could (which was not very quiet at all with the squeaky doorknob that was crusted with rust).

Vriska tip-toed her way past Aranea's room and down the staircase at the end of the wall. Most trolls would hope to heaven that they didn't fall down such perilous instruments of transportation, but she could tell by the eight glimmering glass circles embedded in one of her many-faceted dice which gleamed back into her eye that luck was on her side.  
And it was just so as she hopped down the last step and onto the shag carpet that muffled the sound of her steps and allowed her to get around more quickly. Vriska ran lightly to the front window where the figure was pacing around with it's hands behind it's back, contemplating something. The streetlamp caught the silhouette of the figure and Vriska rubbed her untired eyes. How could it be Terezi? It was 1:30 in the morning for crying out loud! Vriska checked again to see if her eyes weren't playing a trick on her. No, plain as day that was actually still night, there stood her friend, Terezi Pyrope, looking very distressed and cold out there. Maybe she was lost? But why would she be outside at bloody 1:30am?

Vriska wanted to let her in but she knew two things:  
1\. The front door was horribly loud. The unused cat flap they received when moving in was light enough to swing around at every soft movement of the door and heavy enough to make an obnoxiously loud sound. Plus, the thing creaked like an old lady on crack sitting on her rocker. She could not go through the front door.  
2\. Terezi, as far as she knew, had no idea Vriska was there. If Vriska were to just stroll up to her friend and give her a friendly tap on the back, Terezi would wake the entire town, let alone her sister. But to just drop subtle hints that she was there like whispering "Hey, Terezi, it's me, watcha doin'?" would be creepy and Terezi might have a nervous breakdown. Vriska also ruled out that option because any hints like stomping down the stairs or throwing something with her scent on it from her bedroom window would wake Aranea up. That wouldn't end well.

Vriska truly had a dilemma, and there was no easy solution in sight. So she decided not to prolong Terezi's refridgeration out there and take the back door and deal with her in some way. Vriska went to the back of the house where the kitchen was and opened the door as loud as she liked, for if Aranea could hear her at the back door on the first floor all the way from the front of the house on the second then Vriska would happily do a tap-dance number on her dice. She sprinted across the soft grass down the side of her house and got her horn hooked on the clothes line, but nevertheless ended up at the front of the building, peering over the side of the wall like she was in a cartoon with her gaze fixated on her teal-blooded friend who was looking in through the living room window.

Vriska stood so that the streetlight illuminated her hands and rolled her dice from one palm to the other. Four 8's, two 3's, a 6 and a 5.

"Good enough." She said to herself gave the toys a shake for good luck. Then she jumped out from behind the house and yelled,

"HEY TEZ!"

...

Terezi snapped her head towards the sudden noise in the otherwise silent neighbourhood. She sniffed quickly and realised the person standing near her was her friend Vriska, dressed in Spiderman pajamas and holding those stupid dice that hurt a lot more than Lego bricks when you stepped on them.

"Vriska!" She hissed. "What was that for?"  
Vriska said nothing and beckoned Terezi to her. Hopefully her rash decision had not woken Aranea up.

Terezi looked up at the windows of the second floor and hurried over to her friend.

"What are you doing here? It's 1:30AM!" Vriska asked once they were pressed against the wall so if her sister did poke her head out to see what the noise was she wouldn't be able to see them.

"I... Uh..." Terezi stopped. She regretted ever coming here. She didn't want to explain. Quickly, she hid her arm behind her back but Vriska had already seen it in the light.

"Oh. My God." Vriska said, shocked. Terezi looked down, not wanting to look her friend in the eye.

Vriska hugged her. "Dude, it's okay. It's okay." She said repeatedly, patting Terezi on the back. When she released her, Terezi had started crying again.

Why had she ever come here? It would have been less awkward if she had stayed on the bench at the grocery store. But now she was stuck with explaining.

Vriska took her by her uninjured arm and lead her through the back door. Terezi sat down at the kitchen table and tried to wipe her tears away but they just kept coming. She was getting frustrated.

Vriska stood next to her, unsure what to do. Two teenagers standing alone in a dark kitchen.

"Terezi." Vriska whispered. "I'm going to get some bandaids from the medicine cabinet, okay?"

Terezi didn't answer. What possessed her to come here? Maybe while Vriska was gone she could sneak back out. No, Vriska would follow her. But oh well, better than being stuck somewhere else.

Vriska returned with a pack of bandaids and a bottle of iodine. She poured a little of the dark fluid onto a napkin and dabbed it on all the cuts she could see in the dark. Terezi tried to stop crying and her stream of tears was replaced with loud sniffling noises.

Once her friend had finished dressing her wounds Terezi followed Vriska upstairs and into her room. It looked - or smelt, rather - different in the dark. The only light was still the streetlamp out front. There were people starving on the streets and the government used its money to keep a street lit up at 1:30.

Vriska sat next to Terezi on the bed, one arm around her shoulder.

"You, uh, wanna talk now?" She asked. Terezi looked at her.

"It's okay." Vriska said, rubbing Terezi's back.

"I'm sorry Vriska." Terezi sighed. It was too difficult.

"It's okay."

"I just... Well... Redglare..." She trailed off, the memories still too fresh in her mind.

"Terezi, you don't have to tell me now." Vriska said. "Are you tired?"

Terezi nodded hard. She felt like she could sleep for a week. Maybe forever. Like she was dead. Then she'd never have to tell Vriska.  
Terezi mentally slapped herself. Vriska at least deserved an explanation. She knew she'd want one.

Vriska got off the bed and Terezi lay down on the mattress. She was so, so tired.

Vriska took off her red glasses for her friend and placed them on the nightstand. Then she fumbled around for a bit in the closet and pulled out an extra blanket for her. Terezi was already asleep when she laid the sheet on top of her. Vriska smiled, even though it was the wrong thing to do given the circumstances. What would Aranea say? Well, at least she would listen to reason. Everyone knew Terezi's mother could be a bit hot-headed sometimes. Plus, Terezi was a good friend. She'd understand. Hopefully.

Vriska was still not sleepy at all. She climbed onto the other side of the bed and rested herself up against the wall. She checked her phone but there were no new notifications. She stared blankly at the wall for a few moments before snapping back to attention and looking at Terezi. Vriska smiled again.

She lay down next to her dozing friend and stared up at the ceiling. Vriska took a lock of Terezi's brittle black hair and absent-mindedly felt it in her hand.

What were they going to do now? Was Terezi going to go back home? Whatever Redglare had done, she knew Terezi would never hold a grudge against her own mum. Vriska turned her head and looked at the sleeping troll next to her. Part of her wanted to stay like that forever. Never getting up. The world could go on without her, but she wanted Terezi to stay.

"Welcome home, Terezi Pyrope." Vriska said softly.

"Welcome home."

 

...  
A/N: this is long and boring and why are you reading it oh wait youre not because no one reads my shit for good reason ahaha so spoilers nothing gets done whatsoever  
...

 

Vriska waited until she heard Aranea get out of bed and go downstairs. She gave Terezi - who was still out cold under the sheets - one last glance for good luck and left the room. She washed her face and brushed her teeth in the bathroom a bit down the hallway before heading into the kitchen. Aranea was waiting by the toaster and reading a thick volume on leprechaun romance.

"Hey, Aranea?" Vriska asked as she reached the bottom step. Her sister looked up from her book. 

"Uh..." Oh for god's sake. Vriska had forgotten everything she was going to say! And she had spent all night thinking of the right way to tell Aranea about Terezi.  
"Uh........"

"Did I stutter?" Aranea asked.  
"No." Vriska replied.  
Aranea raised an at her from across the room.  
"Well, if you haven't got anything to say then have some breakfast."

"Uh, you know my friend Terezi, right? Well she's upstairs and she came round at 1:30AM last night and her mum threw a plate at her so she stayed here and I let her in because she's my friend also she was bleeding all over the lawn because she had an arm full of plate remember so I stuck some bandaids on her so she's fine now isn't it all just fine." FUCK. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck and fuck.

That was the worst possible way to say it. Where had all her luck gone? Vriska patted her jean pocket and remembered she had taken her dice out because lying on her side with them stabbing into her had become tiresome.

Aranea's pupils dilated and she almost dropped her book on her foot. The two siblings stared at each other in complete silence.

The toast popped up and made both of them jump.

"You..." Aranea started to say, but stopped because there was nothing much to say anyway.

Vriska almost wanted to ask her "Did I stutter?" but she had indeed stuttered and that wouldn't make much sense.

Just then, Terezi came down the stairs. Her hair was an absolute mess, sticking out in places that it should stick in and vice versa. Vriska had missed some of the cuts on her arm in the dark last night and she had a few crusty, bloody scabs on her cheek and neck as well. A thin but all too visible line of saliva had made it's way down her chin. She looked more like a homeless person than Vriska's friend.

"Hello." Aranea said, still getting over the shock of having unknowingly woken up to some creature sleeping in the room next door. Vriska turned to Terezi and smiled as best she could, given the circumstances.

"Am I interrupting something? Terezi asked, scratching her arm and yawning.

"We were just having breakfast." Vriska said quickly and her sister added, "Yes, do join us and our.. Our two pieces of toast."

It was a very awkward and short meal. Aranea was angry at Vriska for letting some weirdo into be house at 1:30AM and at having to give up her one piece of toast to said weirdo, Vriska was trying to telepathically argue that this was her friend and that she couldn't sleep because of the bright streetlight and Terezi, oblivious to everything, was crunching thoughtfully and loudly on her dry toast.

Vriska gagged on her own slice and tried to give Aranea the second half that she couldn't force down her throat, but her sister refused to eat her leftovers and Terezi claimed them instead.

Then Aranea looked at Terezi and asked, "So, have you and Vriska been friends for long?"

Terezi smiled at her through her red glasses and replied happily, "Yeah, for a few years actually. Hasn't she ever mentioned me before?"

"She has indeed," Aranea said, "but I didn't- expect someone like you... I mean... Her description of your character was..." Vriska glanced at her sister and made a mental note to sigh very loudly at her once they were alone.

Terezi wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, getting breadcrumbs on everything within a metre of her. Unfortunately, that also included both Serkets.

"Well, thanks for the breakie- uh, what's your name again?" She asked, getting noisily out of her chair.

"Aranea."

"Thanks for the breakie, Ar-Aradia? Top notch!" And with that, the blind troll tripped and stumbled her way across the kitchen and up the stairs.

Vriska turned to her sister and gave her that loud sigh she had been saving. Aranea glared at her in a way that made her wish she could unsigh it.

"She liked the toast." Vriska said. It seemed like the only thing to say at the time.

"It was burnt to a crisp!" Aranea cried, pulling crumbs out of her hair. "What kind of friends are you making? She's a bad influence, Vriska! She'll keep coming here again and again and you'll keep staying up late!"

"Come on, Aranea!" Vriska pleaded, "She's not half bad! In fact, she was crying yesterday when I saw her outside. She looked like a blind bull in a china store! She can't go home!"

Terezi came downstairs again with Vriska's hairbrush stuck in her messy hair. "I'd better head on home now. Thanks again for the toast, Arabia, it was brilliant. And Vriska, thanks a million for letting me in last night. I have no idea what landed me a good friend like you." And she opened the door and stepped outside.

Vriska ran after her. What did she think she was doing? How could she go back home when just hours ago she ran away from it?  
"Terezi! Where are you going?"  
"Home. Why?"  
"Why? Aren't you happy here?"  
Terezi smiled at her friend, but it was a sad smile. The kind of smile she never smiled because she was always so happy, and that was what Vriska loved about her.  
"Oh, Vriska. I don't want to impose-"  
"It's fine! Impose all you like! I mean... You can't go back home!"  
"I'd rather go there and suffer whatever my mum puts me through than make your sister uncomfortable. I mean, she can't kill me, can she?"  
Vriska tried to reason with her. "You can't! Aranea, she's fine with it! I'll just talk to her and she'll let you stay here, I promise!"

There was that sad smile again. Vriska hated to see it pollute her beautiful face.  
"Vriska, I can't even pronounce her name. She doesn't like me and that's that. It's okay."

"No, no it's not!" Vriska yelled, grabbing hold of Terezi's injured arm and yanking her back. Terezi winced and Vriska immediately started apologising.  
"Sorry! Oh, oh my god. I'm so sorry, Terezi - I didn't mean it, I swear! I just-"

Then Terezi pulled her into a hug. There they stood, on the sidewalk in broad daylight, holding on to each other like they were the last things in the world and both crying for reasons that were just the same as they were different.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." They both mumbled, more to themselves than each other. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, great. We'd better get in before someone sees us like this." Terezi said, pulling away from Vriska and wiping a tear away from her friend's cheek.

"No, I- I think we're fine." Vriska said through her sniffles. "Let's go to the park."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Wait. Who was consoling who? Wasn't Terezi the one who had a hunk of china thrown at her? Vriska mentally hit her head against a wall. Why couldn't she help a friend out without them ending up helping her?  
"I mean, if you'd like to."

Terezi shrugged. "Anything's fine."

And so they walked, hand-in-hand, to the park a few blocks away. There were a few early morning joggers and some old people sitting on benches, but aside from that the big place was empty. Terezi and Vriska sat on the top of a hill in the shade of a tree, waiting for someone to start a conversation.

"You weren't really going to go back home, were you?" Vriska asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

Terezi didn't answer at first. Vriska looked at her and saw that she had laid down in the grass with her head rested on a tree root.

"Well," Terezi finally said, "I guess I should tell you then."

"Tell me what?" Vriska asked, turning herself to face her friend.

"I haven't lived at my house for about two weeks."

Vriska was astounded. Terezi had been on the streets for two whole weeks and she had NEVER told her? Why?

Terezi rolled over and stared up at Vriska with her sightless eyes. "I know what you're thinking. Doesn't take a mind-reader to figure it out."

"So?" Vriska asked.

"Me and your sister had a bit of a run-in with each other an alternate version or two back."

What did this have to do with anything?

"And, long story short she doesn't like me and the feeling is mutual."

"What happened?" Vriska asked, eager to go home and resigh that sigh Aranea so fully deserved.

"Not important. That's why coming to you was a last resort."

"You could have told me!"

"Not without getting all mixed up with Aradia or whatever her name is."

"Aranea."

"Same difference."

Vriska sighed. She was tired of keeping it in.

"What are we going to do now?"

"I dunno. And not 'we'. I shouldn't have dragged you into this mess."

"You should have told me! I could have helped you!"

"I've told you. Help me now."

Silence. Terezi had a point. Vriska felt helpless. Her best friend in all the world needed help but she couldn't give it to her. Her hands were truly tied.

What could she say? The silence was no longer comfortable. In fact, Vriska thought that if she didn't say anything in the next second she might catch on fire.

"Terezi?"

"Yes?"

And she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. Or moreover, the one thing that had been in the back of her brain for months on end. The thing that had been biting at her subconscious since the day she met this wonderful, brave troll girl lying in front of her.

The one thing, Vriska realised now, that had been keeping her up last night.

"I love you."

Terezi smiled. Was it a happy smile? Or a sad smile? Please, let it be the former. Please. Oh god, why had she said that? Of all things!

"The feeling is mutual."

...

What? What? WHAT? What, what, what, what, what?

"Hello? Vriska?"

"Uh, hi!" Fuck. What kind of moron would say that?

Terezi giggled. "You're adorable."

Vriska blushed so hard she was afraid she might bust a blood vessel. What was happening? Did Terezi just return her feelings? Vriska had been sure that they had only been one-sided and that her crush would stay a crush.

"Well, don't leave me hanging. Say something!"

"I love you."

"Yeah, we established that."

Vriska heard a little pop in the back of her head. Was that the blood vessel?

"Do I have to do everything around here?" Terezi asked. She sat up and twirled around to face Vriska. Then she cupped her chin in her hand and leant in.

The kiss was nothing much, just testing the waters. Terezi's slightly chapped lips pressed gently against Vriska's softer ones. It was amazing. Vriska felt like she could take over the world. She was ecstatic, she was going to scream, but she didn't and she pulled Terezi closer to her.

"Bloody hell." Vriska muttered as she pulled away.

"Well, that got you talking." Terezi said, leaning back.

"Thank you?"

"No need to thank me. There's a whole lot more where that came from."

"Oh my god I just kissed you."

"Stop being adorable!" Terezi laughed and lightly put a finger on Vriska's nose.

"I..." There was nothing to say. "Could you do that again?" Okay well now there was.

Terezi gave her another quick peck.

Asking for another one would be greedy.

"What are you going to do now?"

"It's 'we' now, Vriska. Get with the prgramme. And we'll figure something out."

"We will?"

"Yes," Terezi said with a tone of exasperation in her voice, "Now may I please rest easy with my new matesprit or do I need to smash my head on another plate?"

Silence. Good, Terezi thought. Or bad. Hard to tell.

And they sat there, not saying a thing, their faces beaming brighter than the bright morning sun inching its way up and out of the lake and into the cloudless sky, their bloodpushers rattling along in their ribcages to the rhythm of the other and Terezi got her rest.

And they were at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> oh my god they were at peace
> 
> i failed i hate myself and i want to die
> 
> and if you dont get the aranea-terezi thing thats going on rewatch [s] game over


End file.
